Truth or Dare?
by Lizzie-Loves-Books4743
Summary: After a single dare, Hermione and Ron's relationship might be holding on only by a thread...
1. Chapter 1

Hermione Granger sat in a chair of the Gryffindor common room, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. "I can't do it," Ron Weasley was saying, but Hermione could hardly hear him over the incredibly loud thudding of her heart. Hardly. But hardly wasn't good enough. 'He can't do it,' she thought. She wasn't quite sure that she could, either, but to hear him say it hurt her more than it should have. After all, it was just a game. It didn't mean anything. Did it?

'Truth or Dare,' Hermione thought, 'is absolutely, positively the worst game I have ever played.' Any game that left you feeling hopelessly miserable at its conclusion never ought to have been created, she decided. And "hopelessly miserable" was precisely how she was feeling just at the moment, thanks in large part to one Ron Weasley and that awful, awful game.

Just a few hours before...

"This is bo-o-o-r-ing!" Ron whined loudly, heaving a huge sigh, just for effect. "We need to *do* something!"

The Gryffindors still left in the common room, who were more or less content with not doing anything, stared at Ron blankly.

"Like what?" Seamus asked.

"I don't know. Something fun," Ron said, vaguely. "I mean, Merlin, it's been ages since we've really done much of anything that would qualify as 'fun,' what with all that's been going on. And it's the night before the lot of us head home for the Christmas holidays, so we really should do something."

"You know," Hermione ventured, "there's this one Muggle game that I've always rather liked. Have you ever heard of Truth or Dare?"

If only Hermione had known what the game would lead to, she never would have suggested it.

Ron brightened. "Yeah," he exclaimed, "I have heard of it. Never played it before, but it sounds brilliant," he said, grinning mischievously.

"Already plotting your victims' fates, are you?" she asked, grinning back.

"Nah, just yours. So," he said, "who all's in?"

As it turned out, the entire remainder of the common room (Seamus, Lavender, Parvati, and the Creevey brothers) appeared more than willing to abandon their activity of doing nothing for the game of Truth or Dare.

"Truth or Dare is absolutely, positively the best game ever!" Lavender squealed, promptly lapsing into giggles along with Parvati after having made this declaration.

Hermione smiled, proud that she had been the one to suggest what was apparently a very appealing game. It was funny that in a few hours she'd be wishing fervently that she'd just kept her mouth shut.

The group gathered in a circle around the merrily crackling fire, some grabbing up the armchairs for themselves, and the others situating themselves on the floor. Hermione, who had not been quick enough to secure herself a chair but was not satisfied to sit on the floor, stood pouting uncharacteristically. "I want to have a chair," she complained. Ron smirked at her from the seat he had beaten her to.

"Oh, you can just sit in Ron's lap," Seamus said breezily, "I'm sure he won't mind."

Hermione turned and regarded Ron, the tips of whose ears had gone a bit red, for a moment, then shrugged, and settled herself in his lap. His face flushed along with his ears then, and he gave her a funny look. "Hey, that's what you get for taking my chair," she told him, grinning. "Right then," she said, turning back to the group, "let's get started."

And get started they did. The game started off rather innocently, not moving beyond the blowing of a few raspberries and the licking of a window (a rather long lick mark which had been traced over by the tongues of about four people was evidence of this particular dare). However, when Colin got his turn at slobbering all over the window, he got a glimpse of the fresh blanket of snow outside, and was struck by a brilliant idea. That brilliant idea was the turning point of the game.

"Oh, that was disgusting," Colin proclaimed, rejoining the group after his encounter with the window. He took a swig of butterbeer and sloshed it around in his mouth, obviously trying to get the taste out of his mouth. He swallowed, satisfied, and then smiled an evil smile, rubbing his hands together. "Well, then, who's next? I do believe it's Seamus' turn...so what'll it be, Finnegan? Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Seamus answered bravely.

Colin's malevolent smile grew even wider. "Excellent. It's time for a little field trip, then."

"What do you mean, 'field trip'?" Seamus asked, confused.

"Snow angel, Finnegan. That'd be your dare. And as there isn't any snow just lying around the common room, we'll be heading outside."

With that the group tromped out of the common room excitedly, with Hermione protesting weakly that they shouldn't be wandering around the corridors at night even as she followed. It was a wonder they didn't get caught with the racket they were making in the hallway, but as it was technically the holidays the Professors and Filch were probably just getting some much needed rest. It was a good thing, too, because the group of Gryffindors, wired on butterbeer and various sweets, was heedless of any rules they might be breaking and were not making any effort to conceal themselves.

When they finally reached a courtyard, the giggling that had been steadily going on since their departure from Gryffindor tower died down. The group hovered in the doorway of the castle, shivering slightly from the cold.

"Right then. Snow angel, is it?" Seamus asked. He didn't even wait for a response as he headed out into the cold, laid down in the snow, and did his task. Upon finishing, he joined the others just inside and shook off the melting snow that had clung to him in a dog-like fashion, hitting Lavender and Parvati with the cold droplets.

"Seamus! Don't!" they squealed, giggling (as per usual) as they shielded themselves from the flying snow.

"All right then," Seamus said, promptly stopping. "Now then, Ronald, I believe it's your turn. Truth or Dare?"

"Hmm," Ron said, tapping his chin, pretending to be thoughtful. "Hmm, hmm, hmm," he added, trying to give the impression that he hadn't decided which option to take. He'd actually had his mind made up before he'd even uttered the first "hmm". "I guess I'll have to go with dare," he finally said.

"Lovely," Seamus said. "You know, I'm actually rather fond of the snow angel idea."

"Oh, come on, you can't go reusing dares," Hermione protested. "It is part of the rules, you know."

"If you'd let me finish," Seamus continued, grinning at Hermione before turning his attention back to Ron. "Snow angel, Weasley."

"That's exactly the same dare," Hermione pointed out.

"Not quite," Seamus said, his grin widening. "Snow angel, Weasley," he repeated. "Naked."

"Oh," Hermione said. "That is different. I see. How creative of you, Finnegan. Well, then, Ron," she said, eyeing him with amusement (and interest...interest which far surpassed vague curiosity), "better start stripping." As soon as the words had left her mouth Hermione wondered what had made her say them...normally she would have never said a thing like that. She must have just gone a bit overboard with the butterbeer.

Ron raised an eyebrow at Hermione, but said nothing. He did, however, follow her advice: he removed his cloak and T-shirt, and tossed them on Hermione.

"Yes, I'll hold these for you. You're welcome," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Thank you, 'Mione," he said sweetly, patting her on the head, and then heading out into the snow. He walked a good distance out, probably so they couldn't get too good a view of him, before turning back around to face them.

"When I said 'naked' I meant completely, Ronnie!" Seamus called from the doorway.

"I know," Ron shouted back, and without hesitation dropped his pants.

Hermione watched with the rest, torn between looking and not looking at him. On the one hand, she felt a bizarre compulsion to gape at him unashamedly, but the logical part of her brain was screaming "no!" Ron was her best friend. It was wrong to want to look at him like that...and what if he noticed her checking him out? And, more importantly, why did she want to do that in the first place? However, going against her better judgment, Hermione did as best she could to get a good look at Ron without being too obvious. 'I definitely had too much butterbeer,' she thought.

Before Hermione knew it, Ron was back to reclaim the clothes he had dropped off with her. Thankfully, as soon as he was fully clothed, Hermione was able to shake the image of naked Ron from her mind. Not that it was an unpleasant image, but she didn't need to be distracted by naughty thoughts of Ron all night...and since when did she start thinking naughty thoughts about Ron? It had to be the butterbeer.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, the game resumed, steadily becoming more risqué. Kissing was introduced as a dare, and some very unusual couples were being forced to lock lips. A terrified Dennis Creevy backed himself into a corner when his brother was dared to kiss him, and grimaced when he realized he had no escape. He made an awful commotion about the whole thing, and it must have woken up Ginny, because moments later she made an appearance at the top of the stairs.

"What in the world are the lot of you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Truth or Dare," Parvati told her excitedly. "Want to join?"

"Ooh, I'd love to!" Ginny cried, and hurried down the steps to position herself in their little circle. "So, whose turn is it?" she asked.

"Yours," Lavender said in a businesslike manner. "Truth or dare, Ginny?"

"Oh please, I can't pick truth on my first turn!" Ginny exclaimed. "How lame would that be?"

"Dare it is," Lavender affirmed. "And I've got just the thing," she said, an evil grin forming on her face (there'd been a lot of that going around, what with all the plotting of fates that Truth or Dare entails) as she imagined her plan. "I dare you to go up to the boys' dormitory and tell Harry—and with a straight face, mind you, it's got to be believable—that you love him."

"No problem," Ginny said, and she headed up to the boys' dorms trailed by the rest of the group. Ginny was actually very convincing in her declaration of love for Harry, and if it hadn't have been for the eruption of laughter from the others listening outside the door, he might have believed her. As it was, Ginny burst out laughing, too, and the trick was given away. Besides that, all the laughing woke up Dean and Neville, who were also in the room, and blinking blearily at Ginny from their beds.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked while the other two looked inquisitively at Ginny, waiting for an answer.

"We're playing Truth or Dare," Ginny informed them. "Care to join us?"

They did, of course, and the Gryffindors marched back to the common room along with the three new participants. The game started up again, and Ginny picked Hermione, who opted for truth this time. Ginny looked thoughtful as she tried to come up with a question, but Lavender beat her to it.

"Ooh, I've got one!" she exclaimed. "What's the farthest you've ever gone with a guy?"

"That's a stupid question," someone objected. Hermione neither knew nor cared who had said this, but she agreed with them wholeheartedly.

"It is stupid," she seconded. "Ask me something else."

"No, no," Lavender insisted, "you've been asked it and now you've got to answer it. In detail," she added, stressing last word. Lavender always was one for juicy gossip, and she wanted to know everything.

Problem was, there wasn't anything for Lavender to know. Hermione, who wanted a question that she was actually capable of answering (since that was the entire point of the game), was getting a bit angry that Lavender was so fixated on having her answer that particular question. "Why can't you just ask me something else? That's a stupid question!"

"No," Lavender said firmly. "That's your question and it's final. Quit arguing and give me an answer," she demanded.

"No!" Hermione shouted. "'What's the farthest I've ever gone with a guy?' How do you expect me to answer that? Look, I can't tell you everything, and I can't tell you in detail because there's nothing to tell, so just ask me something else!" Hermione was red in the face and breathless after her little outburst. She looked uncertainly around the common room, and was met with the stunned stares of her housemates.

"Well, then, a different question..." Ginny started, but Seamus interrupted her.

"No, don't bother. She answered that one," he said quietly.

Hermione took a deep breath and regained her composure. "Well, then, your turn, Lavender," she said with false cheerfulness.

The game rolled along uneventfully for a while after that, until Seamus, who had noticed what he perceived to be flirting going on between two of the groups' members, decided to contrive a dare of the romantic nature involving the two of them. "Truth or dare, Hermione?" he asked.

"Dare," she answered promptly. Picking truth hadn't gone so well last time, and she wasn't going to go anywhere near that choice again.

"I dare you to kiss Ron," Seamus ordered without hesitation. "On the lips, too, nice and proper."

Hermione huffed as she stood up from her chair, muttering "Fine!" in a slightly annoyed tone. She strode over to Ron and stood between his knees, looking down (though just barely; he was so tall that they were nearly face to face when he was sitting) at him with her hands on her hips.

They stood there staring at each other for a bit, neither moving or saying a word. Hermione, who was getting impatient, said, "Well, go on, then."

"What, I have to do it? It's your dare! I'm just going to sit here, and you can 'go on, then' and kiss me," Ron replied.

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip self-consciously, looking at Ron pleadingly. "But—I can't—it's not—you can just—"she stuttered, feeling very awkward.

Thankfully, her housemates, sensing her uneasiness, came to her rescue.

"Come on, Ron, quit being stubborn about it and just kiss her," Seamus advised.

"Yeah," Parvati piped up, "kiss her! Do something passionate and erotic!" she called.

Hermione was trying very hard to refrain from rolling her eyes at Parvati when Ron leaned up and kissed her, very quickly, and then did something odd with his head where he sort of nuzzled her neck. Hermione assumed he was going for "passionate and erotic" with that little addition. At any rate, the kiss itself had taken her by surprise, and Hermione had very nearly missed it it happened so suddenly. It wasn't bad though, she had to admit, as quick as it was, and she was quite certain that their eyelashes had brushed when he kissed her. Strangely, it was that that sent shivers—and very pleasant shivers, they were—down her spine.

Hermione turned to go back to her seat, but in her absence it had become occupied by Dean. "Sorry," he apologized, shrugging.

Hermione turned back to Ron, and poked his arm softly. "Scoot over," she told him, "you're going to share that chair with me."

"Aw, c'mon Hermione," Ron complained, but he obliged nonetheless.

"Thank you," she said sincerely as she sat down, smiling winningly at him.

The game went on. Seamus, who hadn't been dissuaded in playing matchmaker with Ron and Hermione, picked Hermione every chance he got. She decided she'd take a chance with truth the first time, so she inevitably was asked how the kiss with Ron was. Deliberately avoiding Ron's eye, she answered that it was "okay" after she'd decided that it was all right to break the rules and tell a bit of a lie. After all, did everyone really need to know that it had sent shivers down her spine? No, that was something best kept to herself.

Seamus, however, was not content with just a measly "okay" as a response. "Okay?" he asked. "You're not going to take just 'okay,' are you Ron?"

"No, no, I'll settle for that," Ron assured him in a not entirely convincing voice. It was good enough for Hermione, though, because Seamus dropped the subject, and Hermione wasn't put on the spot any longer. At least, not until the next time around, when she was picked yet again by Seamus. She went for dare that time, and Seamus, who was becoming more and more bold in his selection of dares, said the eight words that were going to make her wish she'd never suggested the game in the first place: "I dare you to make out with Ron."

Hermione said nothing. She could only stare at Seamus, speechless.

"And when I say that I mean I want to see a good, lengthy snog...in fact, I'll be timing you. One full minute, and you'd better use all of it," he elaborated.

Hermione was sure she must have looked completely helpless, because Harry offered, "Of course, you can always back out, Hermione, if you don't want to."

"No, I can't," Hermione said, feebly. "I've already backed out once, and you know that's the limit." This was true; Hermione had outright declined to do a "table dance," because besides the fact that she didn't know exactly what it was, it sure sounded mortifying. That she actually did want to kiss Ron wasn't anything they needed to know.

Hermione glanced at Ron, who she was still sharing a chair with, out of the corner of her eye. He was looking straight ahead of him into space, intentionally ignoring her. Really, the least he could do would be to show a little interest. He didn't have to be so darn unresponsive!

"This is the part where you actually complete your dare," Seamus instructed her.

"I can't do it if he won't," she explained.

Seamus appeared to suddenly realize that Ron might not automatically allow Hermione to snog him just because she'd been dared to. "Yeah, you don't have to, Ron," he told him. "After all, it isn't your dare, so it's not like you're obligated to do it or anything."

"I'm not ready to kiss her," Ron mumbled, whatever the hell that meant.

'What does he mean he's not ready to kiss me?' Hermione thought. What, did he need to go pop a mint and tidy up his hair? Somehow, Hermione thought that wasn't what Ron meant when he said that. It almost sounded like he'd been planning on kissing her at some time in the future, some time when there weren't any other people watching, some time when he was...ready.

"Alright, I'll think up another dare for her—"Seamus began, but Ron cut him off.

"No, it's alright, I'll do it," he said.

Hermione looked at Ron. Ron looked at Hermione. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, Hermione trembling nervously the entire time, her heart beating frantically in her chest and her breath coming in shallow gasps.

And then they were kissing. Hermione couldn't remember how they'd gotten there, but she knew they had, and her nerves were still anything but calm. She was aware of Ron's tongue in her mouth, and as much as she wanted to focus on that, the only thing she could focus on at the moment was the nine others in the room who were watching them, and how she didn't want them to be there. As she thought about the onlookers more and more, she became more and more frustrated with their being there. Hermione was still thinking about this when she inadvertently made an annoyed noise at their presence. She didn't have to be the smartest witch in her year to know that you don't make annoyed sounds in the middle of snogging. It had to have been about the worst thing she could have possibly done. What a way to ruin her first kiss.

Of course, Ron added to the dreadfulness of the situation by abruptly cutting off the kiss and standing up. Hermione couldn't blame him for doing it, but it certainly was the icing on the (very stale) cake.

"I can't do it," he said.

'He can't do it,' Hermione thought bitterly. 'Could have decided that a little earlier, couldn't he?' She shifted in the chair that suddenly seemed huge now that Ron had vacated it, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly. Her thudding heart pounded loudly in her ears, nearly drowning out all the other sound.

'What just happened?' Hermione thought miserably, as the game was declared ruined.


	2. Chapter 2

**I AM SOOOO SORRY THAT I HAVE BEEN TAKING FOREVER TO UPLOAD MORE—MY APOLOGIES! LOVE YOU ALL!**

After Ron had gotten up, he quickly ran from the common room, up to the boy's dormitories. Everyone looked at the awe struck Hermione and where Ron had left to. Hermione's face fell, showing her discontent with the actions that had just occurred. Most of the boys, except for Harry had gone up the dormitories too, to see what happened to Ron. Ginny ran up with them too. Harry sat next to Hermione, and looked at her emotionless face. "Hermione…" He quietly whispered. "You-You okay?" he asked her. She finally broke down crying, wondering what she did. Sitting next to Hermione, Harry offered her a shoulder to cry on, which she took willingly. Harry tried to shush her by cooing to her and rubbing her back softly.

'What a great friend I have' she thought to herself.

At the same time, many people were wondering where Ron had gone. He was hunched over his bed up in the boy's dormitories. Ginny, feeling bad for her brother ran over to aid him, by sitting next to him, rubbing his back. Ron let out a soft whimper, and said, "Gin- I am such a failure… but I just couldn't bear to think that the only reason she was kissing me was because it was a dare!" Ron looked up towards his sister, as she looked at him knowingly.

"You looked like you were about to be sick…" she said.

"I know! I should be happy that I was kissing Hermione, and it was brilliant, I just couldn't have my first kiss with her be like this."

"I know Ron, but I think you owe her an apology…" Ron finally looked up from his feet, letting everyone see his red, puffy face, a sign of his crying. He slowly got up from his bed, and walked cautiously to the door of the dormitory, as he was about to go down to the common room. Ginny and Ron were walking hand in hand, like a nice brother and sister. As they made it to the top of the steps, able to see what was happening below. Both Ginny and Ron cringed as they saw Harry kiss the top of Hermione's head. Ginny turned and ran, likewise her brother.

"I knew she liked him more than she liked me!" Ron said through tears.

"I cannot believe he likes her more than me! I thought he had feelings for me!"

"Thanks Harry… I am so happy to have a great friend like you!" Hermione whispered into Harry's ear. A grin appeared on both of their faces.

"I know how you feel; I was crushed when Ginny was going out with Dean Thomas." He looked down at Hermione and Hermione had a blank look on her face. Harry followed the direction that Hermione was looking at- the corridor that leads to the dormitories. "What happened?" Harry asked.

"I just thought I saw something red." Hermione got up and walked to the hall, running up the stairs two at a time. She gingerly walked to the door of the girl's dormitories, opening the door slowly. She walked in to see two ginger heads hugging each other, sobbing hysterically. She realized that one was Ron and the other was Ginny. She shuddered as she saw how much they were crying. She just stood there in the door way of the room.

Ron and Ginny noticed her presence and looked up at her. Her face was as tear stained and puffy as theirs. They both just glared at her. This made Hermione cry more and collapse on the ground. She had her hands covering her face and her whole body was shaking. She couldn't believe that Ron, her friend and love; and Ginny, her best girl friend both hated her. She felt like her life was falling apart. Suddenly she felt a strong hand on her back as she still was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ron asked.

"You- and- Ginny- hate- me—and- I- don't- know- what- I- did!" Hermione said between sobs.

"You haven't done anything!" Ginny said, who was now next to her. She looked up and saw Ginny smiling at her, but Ron was pacing the room, still crying. Hermione looked at him puzzled 'Why was he crying?' she wondered. He looked back at her, both noticing their red faces. She sheeply smiled at Ron, got up and left the room.

She walked down the corridors until she came to the outdoor yard where Ron had done a nude snow angel. She curled up in a ball and let the snow fall softly on her face and hair. Only wearing a t-shirt and sweat pants. The cold was getting to her. She was shivering and was about to become a popsicle.

"What do you want me to do Ginny?"

"Go talk to her-I'm sure we had a misunderstanding. You saw how upset she was when we were mad at her."

"Just because she doesn't want to lose a FRIEND—Nothing more!" Harry heard the commotion upstairs and went up.

"What is going on up here?" he asked.

"You are a git Harry Potter! I thought you liked me! How could you do this to me?"

"What are you talking about, Ginny?"

"You and Hermione." She said through gritted teeth.

"Gin-I do love you! And only you—I was trying to make Hermione feel better. She is my little sister. That is all." Ginny smiled and ran up to Harry engulfing him in a hug. A look of understanding fell upon Ron. He quickly left the room and started searching form Hermione in the common room. He happened to look out the window of the common room to see something out in the snow. Hermione.

She felt something warm fall on her. By now she felt as if she would suffer from frostbite all over. It hurt for her to look up, but she saw the reflection of red on the snow. Ron.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well saving you from pneumonia of course." He said will a lopsided grin on his face. She smirked at him.

"And why exactly couldn't you have let me die?" She said. She again shoved her face back into her arms. She heard Ron slide onto the snow next to her.

"Hermione- I, I am sorry for what happened in the common room. I just couldn't, you're my friend.." He was abruptly stopped by Hermione standing up, shaking the coat off and turning towards Ron

"That's what I thought." She ran back to the castle and tried to find a place where Ron couldn't find her. Unfortunately that place was again out in the snow. She stayed there, just hoping that her misery would end soon enough. Again she heard the crushing of snow behind her.

"Ron- LEAVE!" She said, still with her back to him.

" 'Mione, I never got to finish," He said, "take this." Shoving his coat in my face. Just from pure coldness, she took it and wrapped it around her body.

"What?"

"You are my friend, but I like you more than that 'Mione. Much more."

"So then why couldn't you kiss me? Do you know how embarrassed I am?"

"Well I could, I gladly would, but I wanted to know that you were kissing me because you liked me too, not just that you were dared." Hermione reached over to where Ron was sitting and looked up into his blue eyes.

"Ron-I love you." She said with a smile.

"I love you too 'Mione." Ron said in return. They both moved their faces closer together until they were kissing. Kissing in the snow.

"Can we go back to the common room now? I am freezing." Hermione said shaking.

"Sure." They stood up, and Ron engulfed Hermione into a hug, warming both her body and spirit. They walked back into a cheering common room, hand-in-hand.

**HOPE YOU LIKED IT! SORRY AGAIN FOR TAKING FOREVER- I HAD SOME BAD WRITERS BLOCK—LOVE YOU ALL ANYWAYSS **


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